Is this REALLY the best ski hotel in the world? MailOnline's verdict on the W Verbier
Is this REALLY the best ski hotel in the world? MailOnline travels to Switzerland and checks into W Verbier to see what all the fuss is about... W Verbier has won the title of World's Best Ski Hotel at the World Ski Awards for seven consecutive years What's more, Verbier - the main resort of the 4 Valleys ski area in Switzerland - is this year's best ski resort in the world Jake Wallis Simons checks in, but isn't entirely won over by the hotel's credentials...
AdvertisementCould there be a better ski hotel in the world? A certain establishment in the heart of Verbier, this rarefied Elysium of winter sports resorts, thinks so. And by its own words, the best ski hotel in the world is itself.
To be fair, the lazy-named W has won the prestigious title of the World's Best Ski Hotel at for seven consecutive years, including at this year's awards (and Verbier won the 2022 World's Best Ski Resort award, the second year in a row it has won the accolade). But stay there for two nights, as I did with my fiancée recently, and there's no denying that the hotel wholeheartedly approves of the judgment.
Exorbitant prices, on the one hand, are the kind of prices charged only by a hotel convinced of its own superiority. The lavish indulgence of the space - huge windows overlooking the magnificent mountains, large halls filled with modern art and quirky photo booths, a wide listed forecourt with supercars - demonstrates the arrogance of a World's Best . And all the staff with terrifying casualness smile all the time, especially when they talk, when it's a glare of tans and teeth.
A hotel, I think, has its own character. If the W were a man, he'd be a European jet-setter, a trust fund guy with swept-up playboy hair and a shirt that shows a bit of chest. You would find him smoking a cigar and laughing on the pavement outside a Mayfair club in the early hours of Saturday morning and accepting credit card payment for the privilege. If it were a woman, she would be glamorous and vicious, with high heels that would pierce the asphalt without compromising their shine. If it was a dog, it would be an onyx black Labrador with a very shiny head...
Could there be a better ski hotel in the world? A certain establishment in the heart of Verbier, this rarefied Elysium of winter sports resorts, thinks so. And by its own words, the best ski hotel in the world is itself.
To be fair, the lazy-named W has won the prestigious title of the World's Best Ski Hotel at for seven consecutive years, including at this year's awards (and Verbier won the 2022 World's Best Ski Resort award, the second year in a row it has won the accolade). But stay there for two nights, as I did with my fiancée recently, and there's no denying that the hotel wholeheartedly approves of the judgment.
Exorbitant prices, on the one hand, are the kind of prices charged only by a hotel convinced of its own superiority. The lavish indulgence of the space - huge windows overlooking the magnificent mountains, large halls filled with modern art and quirky photo booths, a wide listed forecourt with supercars - demonstrates the arrogance of a World's Best . And all the staff with terrifying casualness smile all the time, especially when they talk, when it's a glare of tans and teeth.
A hotel, I think, has its own character. If the W were a man, he'd be a European jet-setter, a trust fund guy with swept-up playboy hair and a shirt that shows a bit of chest. You would find him smoking a cigar and laughing on the pavement outside a Mayfair club in the early hours of Saturday morning and accepting credit card payment for the privilege. If it were a woman, she would be glamorous and vicious, with high heels that would pierce the asphalt without compromising their shine. If it was a dog, it would be an onyx black Labrador with a very shiny head...
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